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Michel Rivera isn’t quite sure when he will land his elusive title shot.
The unbeaten Dominican lightweight contender is confident of who he will fight when that day arrives, however.
Rivera has tabbed Gervonta ‘Tank’ Davis (26-0, 24KOs) to prevail in his rescheduled WBA ‘World’ lightweight title defense versus mandatory challenger Rolando Romero (14-0, 12KOs). The two will collide atop a May 28 Showtime Pay-Per-View event from Barclays Center in Brooklyn, New York.
By that time, Rivera hopes to have added his latest win as he faces Joseph Adorno (14-0-2, 12KOs) this Saturday on Showtime from The Armory in Minneapolis, Minnesota. A win by Miami’s Rivera (22-0, 14KOs) will allow him to scout the Davis-Romero fight, with hopes of facing the winner in his next fight.
“In that fight, it will be Tank who wins,” Rivera told BoxingScene.com. “Rolando is a bigger guy than Gervonta is but Gervonta has experience, he has power. Rolly does, too, but he doesn’t know how to box. It’s important to have power as a professional, it is an important quality to be strong but he doesn’t have defense.
“But you never know what happens in boxing. You can’t just say, this guy will win. But I do believe that Gervonta will win.”
Rivera became a top-rated WBA lightweight contender following an off-the-canvas, eighth-round knockout of Spain’s Jon Fernandez in their title eliminator last July 3 in Carson, California. At the time, Rivera expected to challenge for Romero’s WBA interim title. The belt is no longer in existence, with the WBA naming Las Vegas’ Romero as the mandatory challenger to the version of the lightweight title Davis has held since December 2019.
The development left Rivera on the outside looking in, having since added a ten-round win over former gym stablemate Jose Matias Romero last October. The fight with Adorno—an unbeaten Puerto Rican prospect who now trains in Orlando—was accepted with the understanding that the winner can look forward to late May and, from there, a dream assignment.
“I can win a world title right now,” insists Rivera. “I can fight for a world title right now and win. If they tell me in 20 minutes I’m fighting for a world title, I say yeah. I don’t know how long it will take to get the opportunity. I’m pretty sure it will be soon.”
Rivera-Adorno serves as the co-feature to the U.S. debut of Australia’s Tim Tszyu, who faces 2012 U.S. Olympian and former title challenger Terrel Gausha in a junior middleweight battle atop a Showtime tripleheader.
Jake Donovan is a senior writer for BoxingScene.com. Twitter: @JakeNDaBox